The present invention relates generally to meal modules and more particularly to a novel self-heating individual meal module.
Self-heating meal modules of the type used, for example, by the military to heat rations of food for an individual are well-known.
One example of a self-heating meal module is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,921, which issued Dec. 24, 1985 with inventor Benmussa. In this patent, there is disclosed a self-heating receptacle comprising a vessel for food to be heated, and below the vessel a sealed container containing two chemicals, e.g. quick lime and water. A pouch within the container holds one of the chemicals sealed from the other. A tearing filament secured to the pouch simultaneously opens the pouch and the container thereby to trigger the exothermic reaction to heat said food vessel. The pouch is suspended by its ends above the bottom of the container and is surrounded by said other chemical. There is an outer housing in the bottom of which the container is disposed, the food vessel being disposed in the top of this housing. The container is hermetically sealed with a lid. The tearing filament extends across the lid below the bottom of the food vessel and emerges from between the housing and the food vessel in a portion that can be grasped by the user to pull on the tearing filament thereby both to open the pouch and to tear the lid.
One disadvantage with the above-described self-heating receptacle is that it is designed so that the food vessel is separated by a gap of about 5 mm from the sealed container containing the quick lime and water. In this way, when the sealed container is opened and the quick lime and water are combined to initiate an exothermic reaction, steam is released therefrom, which then rises to heat the food vessel. Unfortunately, this form of heat transfer, i.e., convective heat transfer of a gas, is rather inefficient.
Other examples of self-heating meal modules are disclosed in the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,612, which issued Apr. 11, 1989 with inventors Okamoto et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,673, which issued Mar. 7, 1989 with inventor Charvin; U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,119, which issued Jun. 14, 1988 with inventor Yukawa; U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,919, which issued Apr. 16, 1985 with inventor Benmussa; U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,357, which issued Mar. 18, 1975 with inventors Grosso et al; U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,372, which issued Apr. 4, 1972 with inventor Douglas; U.S. Pat. No. 3,287,140 which issued Nov. 22, 1966 with inventor Brussell; and U.S. Pat. No. 1,751,387, which issued Mar. 18, 1930 with inventor Bielek.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,190, which issued Jun. 11, 1985 with inventors Kuhn et al, there is disclosed an inexpensive flexible heater material (heat pad) for food heating, medical compresses and the like. The heat pad is a composite material consisting of a supercorroding metallic alloy powder dispersed throughout a porous polyethylene matrix. The supercorroding alloy material consists of a powered alloy of magnesium and iron which is produced by high energy power metallurgical milling techniques. Pressureless sintering of a mixture of the supercorroding alloy powders with UHMW polyethylene powder results in the formation of a flexible porous matrix material with active ingredients therein that are readily activated with a suitable electrolyte fluid.